Electrical stimulation of neural tissue serves as the core of many neurological therapies, and can provide relief for a variety of disorders, improving the quality of life for many patients. In some cases, electrical stimulation may be characterized by a lack of specificity in the excitation of neural tissue. In particular, it can be difficult to stimulate a specific, localized neural population due to constraints on electrode geometry and placement. For example, the area of stimulation may be dictated by electrode size, which can be generally orders of magnitude greater than the cellular targets of interest. In some cases, this may lead to overexciting cellular networks and or inefficient stimulation, and may result in stimulation of non-target cells. In addition, inhibitory stimuli through the use of electrical coupling generally may be accomplished only through a electrical stimulation block that involves inefficient, high frequency stimulation, thereby limiting the therapy modulation strategy in some circumstances. The presence of electrodes in tissue may also place limitations on electromagnetic exposure from electromagnetic sources such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electrosurgery devices. In addition, electrical stimulation can undermine the ability to sense underlying electrical neural activity simultaneously with delivery of electrical stimulation. In particular, electrical stimulation currents flowing through the tissue that are necessary to achieve a localized current density high enough to depolarize the cell or axon can mask the bioelectrical activity to be sensed.